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Articles 6691 - 6720 of 9289

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Variable Selection In Nonparametric And Semiparametric Regression Models, Liangjun Su, Yonghui Zhang Jan 2013

Variable Selection In Nonparametric And Semiparametric Regression Models, Liangjun Su, Yonghui Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This chapter reviews the literature on variable selection in nonparametric and semiparametric regression models via shrinkage. We highlight recent developments on simultaneous variable selection and estimation through the methods of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso), smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SCAD) or their variants, but restrict our attention to nonparametric and semiparametric regression models. In particular, we consider variable selection in additive models, partially linear models, functional/varying coefficient models, single index models, general nonparametric regression models, and semiparametric/nonparametric quantile regression models.

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Non-Normality And Heteroscedasticity Robust Lm Tests Of Spatial Dependence, Badi H. Baltagi, Zhenlin Yang Jan 2013

Non-Normality And Heteroscedasticity Robust Lm Tests Of Spatial Dependence, Badi H. Baltagi, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

The standard LM tests for spatial dependence in linear and panel regressions are derived under the normality and homoskedasticity assumptions of the regression disturbances. Hence, they may not be robust against non-normality or heteroskedasticity of the disturbances. Following Born and Breitung (2011), we introduce general methods to modify the standard LM tests so that they become robust against heteroskedasticity and non-normality. The idea behind the robustification is to decompose the concentrated score function into a sum of uncorrelated terms so that the outer product of gradient (OPG) can be used to estimate its variance. We also provide methods for improving …

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Arrow-Fisher-Hanemann-Henry And Dixit-Pindyck Option Values Under Strategic Interactions, Tomoki Fujii, Ryuichiro Ishikawa Jan 2013

Arrow-Fisher-Hanemann-Henry And Dixit-Pindyck Option Values Under Strategic Interactions, Tomoki Fujii, Ryuichiro Ishikawa

Research Collection School Of Economics

We extend the Arrow–Fisher–Hanemann–Henry (AFHH) and Dixit–Pindyck (DP) option values to a game situation. By reinterpreting the AFHH option value as a change in the surplus from conservation because of the prospect of future information, we deal with a conceptual difficulty associated with the AFHH option value in the presence of strategic interactions. We then introduce the DP option value into a game situation. We show that the equivalence between the expected value of information and the DP option value in the standard model does not hold under strategic interactions.

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Collectivistic Norms And International Entrepreneurship: A Tale Of Two Clans, The Wenzhounese From China And The Chettiars From India, Wee Liang Tan Jan 2013

Collectivistic Norms And International Entrepreneurship: A Tale Of Two Clans, The Wenzhounese From China And The Chettiars From India, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is a need in the field of international entrepreneurship for ideas and theory developed from within the SME field and less reliance on that developed in the field of international business and large firms. This paper seeks to address this gap but examining the two groups of international entrepreneurs from China and India: the Wenzhou people and the Chettiars. These two groups began internationalising in the past before globalisation became a norm in the colonial days and before when ships sailed along trade winds. It seeks to draw lessons from these two groups: their collectivistic norms and practices.

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Cultural Differences And Switching Of In-Group Sharing Behavior Between An American (Facebook) And A Chinese (Renren) Social Networking Site, Lin Qiu, Han Lin, Angela K. Y. Leung Jan 2013

Cultural Differences And Switching Of In-Group Sharing Behavior Between An American (Facebook) And A Chinese (Renren) Social Networking Site, Lin Qiu, Han Lin, Angela K. Y. Leung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Prior research has documented cultural dimensions that broadly characterize between-culture variations in Western and East Asian societies and that bicultural individuals can flexibly change their behaviors in response to different cultural contexts. In this article, we studied cultural differences and behavioral switching in the context of the fast emerging, naturally occurring online social networking, using both self-report measures and content analyses of online activities on two highly popular platforms, Facebook and Renren (the “Facebook of China”). Results showed that while Renren and Facebook are two technically similar platforms, the Renren culture is perceived as more collectivistic than the Facebook culture. …

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Testing Whether The Underlying Continuous-Time Process Follows A Diffusion: An Infinitesimal Operator-Based Approach, Bin Chen, Zhaogang Song Jan 2013

Testing Whether The Underlying Continuous-Time Process Follows A Diffusion: An Infinitesimal Operator-Based Approach, Bin Chen, Zhaogang Song

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We develop a nonparametric test to check whether a process can be represented by a stochastic differential equation driven only by a Brownian motion. Our testing procedure utilizes the infinitesimal operator-based martingale characterization combined with a generalized spectral approach. Such a testing procedure is feasible and convenient because the infinitesimal operator of the diffusion process has a closed-form expression. The proposed test is applicable to both univariate and multivariate processes and has an  limit distribution under the diffusion hypothesis. Simulation and empirical studies show that the proposed test has reasonable performance in small samples.

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Strategic Exploitation Of A Common Resource Under Environmental Risk, Eric Fesselmeyer, Marc Santugini Jan 2013

Strategic Exploitation Of A Common Resource Under Environmental Risk, Eric Fesselmeyer, Marc Santugini

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We study the effect of environmental risk on the extraction of a common resource. Using a dynamic and non-cooperative game in which an environmental event impacts the renewability and the quality of the resource, we show that the anticipation of such an event has an ambiguous effect on extraction and the tragedy of the commons. A risk of a reduction in the renewability induces the agents to extract less today while a risk of a deterioration in the quality has the opposite effect. Moreover, when environmental risk induces conservation, the tragedy of the commons is worsened. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. …

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Changes In The White-Black House Value Distribution Gap From 1997 To 2005, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kien T. Le, Kiat Ying Seah Jan 2013

Changes In The White-Black House Value Distribution Gap From 1997 To 2005, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kien T. Le, Kiat Ying Seah

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper examines the white-black house value gap across the entire value distribution. Instead of using standard conditional mean analysis and decomposition methods (via OLS regression), we estimate and decompose the changes in the white-black house value gap from 1997 to 2005 using quantile regression. We find that the racial gap in 1997 and 2005 is mostly explained by differences in housing characteristics of white- and black-owned houses but that the variation in the racial gap is explained by racial differences in implicit prices of housing characteristics. Our results show that analysis at the conditional mean masks variations at the …

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Intertemporal Substitution In Maternal Labor Supply: Evidence Using State School Entrance Age Laws, Rashmi Rekha Barua Jan 2013

Intertemporal Substitution In Maternal Labor Supply: Evidence Using State School Entrance Age Laws, Rashmi Rekha Barua

Research Collection School Of Economics

I propose a new framework to study the intertemporal labor supply hypothesis. I use an exogenous source of variation in maternal net earning opportunities, generated through school entrance age of children, to study intertemporal labor supply behavior. Employing data from the 1980 US Census and the NLSY, I estimate the effect of a one year delay in school attendance on long run maternal labor supply. IV estimates imply that having a 5 year old enrolled in school increases labor supply measures for married women, with no younger children, by between 7 to 34 percent. Further, using a sample of 7 …

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Monetary Regime Choice In Singapore: Would A Tayor Rule Outperform Exchange-Rate Management?, Hwee Kwan Chow, G.C. Lim, P. Mcnelis Jan 2013

Monetary Regime Choice In Singapore: Would A Tayor Rule Outperform Exchange-Rate Management?, Hwee Kwan Chow, G.C. Lim, P. Mcnelis

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper adopts a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium-vector autorgressive (DSGE-VAR) approach to examine the managed exchange-rate system at work in Singapore. We examine if the country has any reason to fear floating the exchange rate and adopting a Taylor rule. Our results show that, in terms of overall inflation volatility, the exchange rate rule has a comparative advantage over the Taylor rule when export price shocks are the major sources of real volatility, while a Taylor rule dominates when domestic productivity shocks drive real volatility. The exchange-rate rule also dominates the Taylor rule for reducing inflation persistence.

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Testing Conditional Independence Via Empirical Likelihood, Liangjun Su, Halbert White Jan 2013

Testing Conditional Independence Via Empirical Likelihood, Liangjun Su, Halbert White

Research Collection School Of Economics

We construct two classes of smoothed empirical likelihood ratio tests for the conditional independence hypothesis by writing the null hypothesis as an infinite collection of conditional moment restrictions indexed by a nuisance parameter. One class is based on the CDF; another is based on smoother functions. We show that the test statistics are asymptotically normal under the null hypothesis and a sequence of Pitman local alternatives. We also show that the tests possess an asymptotic optimality property in terms of average power. Simulations suggest that the tests are well behaved in finite samples. Applications to some economic and financial time …

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No Pass No Drive: Education And Allocation Of Time, Rashmi Rekha Barua, Marian Vidal-Fernandez Jan 2013

No Pass No Drive: Education And Allocation Of Time, Rashmi Rekha Barua, Marian Vidal-Fernandez

Research Collection School Of Economics

Since the late 1980s, several states in the US have introduced No Pass No Drive (NPND) laws that set minimum academic requirements for teenagers under 18 to obtain a driving license. Using data from the U.S. Census and Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, we exploit cross-state, cross-cohort and cross-time variation in NPND laws to study their effect on educational outcomes and allocation of time among teenagers. Estimates using the Census show that NPND laws have a positive and significant effect on both years of completed schooling and the probability of high school completion among boys and blacks, but not girls. …

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Financial Development, International Capital Flows, And Aggregate Output, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang Jan 2013

Financial Development, International Capital Flows, And Aggregate Output, Jürgen Von Hagen, Haiping Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We develop a tractable two-country overlapping-generations model and show that cross-country differences in financial development can explain three recent empirical patterns of international capital flows: Financial capital flows from relatively poor to relatively rich countries, while foreign direct investment flows in the opposite direction; net capital flows go from poor to rich countries; despite its negative net international investment positions, the United States receives a positive net investment income. International capital mobility affects output in each country directly through the size of domestic investment and indirectly through the aggregate saving rate. Under certain conditions, the indirect effect may dominate the …

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Nonparametric Dynamic Panel Data Models: Kernel Estimation And Specification Testing, Liangjun Su, Xun Lu Jan 2013

Nonparametric Dynamic Panel Data Models: Kernel Estimation And Specification Testing, Liangjun Su, Xun Lu

Research Collection School Of Economics

Motivated by the first differencing method for linear panel data models, we propose a class of iterative local polynomial estimators for nonparametric dynamic panel data models with or without exogeous regressors. The estimators utilize the additive structure of the first-differenced model, the fact that the two additive components have the same functional form, and the unknown function of interest is implicitly defined as a solution of a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. We establish the uniform consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimators. We also propose a consistent test for the correct specification of linearity in typical dynamic …

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Demography, Development And The Origin Of Democracy: A Model With Case Studies Of Arachic Athens And Maritime England, Brishti Guha Jan 2013

Demography, Development And The Origin Of Democracy: A Model With Case Studies Of Arachic Athens And Maritime England, Brishti Guha

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

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Does Competition Within The Military Reduce Expropriation?, Madhav S. Aney, Giovanni Ko Jan 2013

Does Competition Within The Military Reduce Expropriation?, Madhav S. Aney, Giovanni Ko

Research Collection School Of Economics

How can agents in the military, which control the means of coercion, commit not to expropriate from producers? In this paper we propose competition within the military as one of the mechanisms that can deter predation and consequently create commitment. In our model, even if agents within the military could expropriate all output costlessly, it is attractive to protect producers from predating military units. This is because there is a marginal defensive advantage and consequently defense is an e ective way to potentially eliminate other military units, reducing competition and leading to higher future payo s. The model predicts that …

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Qml Estimation Of Dynamic Panel Data Models With Spatial Errors, Liangjun Su, Zhenlin Yang Jan 2013

Qml Estimation Of Dynamic Panel Data Models With Spatial Errors, Liangjun Su, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We propose quasi maximum likelihood (QML) estimation of dynamic panel models with spatial errors when the cross-sectional dimension n is large and the time dimension T is fixed. We consider both the random effects and fixed effects models and derive the limiting distributions of the QML estimators under different assumptions on the initial observations. We propose a residual-based bootstrap method for estimating the standard errors of the QML estimators. Monte Carlo simulation shows that both the QML estimators and the bootstrap standard errors perform well in finite samples under a correct assumption on initial observations, but may perform poorly when …

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Mapping Dissent: The Responsibility To Protect And Its State Critics, Patrick Quinton-Brown Jan 2013

Mapping Dissent: The Responsibility To Protect And Its State Critics, Patrick Quinton-Brown

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Addressing dissent, also known as ‘rejectionism’, will broaden and deepen the global consensus on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle. However, how should scholars understand the objections raised by state critics? To answer this question, I analyse R2P opposition as presented in official UN transcripts, voting records, and resolutions. The article reveals that six related themes of dissent exist with varying degrees of emphasis amongst opponents. Conventional depictions of R2P opposition, such as the absolute sovereignty or North vs. South explanations, are therefore inadequate representations of the diverse range of arguments employed by dissenters. Ultimately, I conclude that in order …

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International Conventions And The Failure Of A Transnational Approach To Controlling Asian Crime Business, Mark Findlay, Nafis Hanif Jan 2013

International Conventions And The Failure Of A Transnational Approach To Controlling Asian Crime Business, Mark Findlay, Nafis Hanif

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The paper argues that without a realistic understanding of criminal enterprise located against the commercial forces shaping contemporary Asian market contexts, then domestic, bi-lateral, regional and international control initiatives are not only likely to fail in their regulatory objectives, but the premises on which they are constructed may heighten the market conditions for crime business profitability.The international convention-based approach to regulating transnational and organized crime is the framework from which a critique of non-market centred law enforcement control concentrations is developed. This critique reveals the transposition of flawed normative control considerations from domestic to supra-national control contexts, and shows how …

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The Spirit-Mediums Of Singkawang: Performing Peoplehood Of West Kalimantan, Margaret Chan Jan 2013

The Spirit-Mediums Of Singkawang: Performing Peoplehood Of West Kalimantan, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Chinese New Year in the West Kalimantan town of Singkawang is marked by a parade featuring hundreds of possessed spirit-mediums performing self-mortification and blood sacrifice. The event is a huge tourist draw, but beyond the spectacle, deeper meanings are enacted. The spirit-medium procession stages a fraternity of Dayak, Malay and Chinese earth gods united in the purpose of exorcising demons from the neighborhood. The self-conscious presentation of the Chinese as brethren among pribumi [sons-of-the-soil] Dayak and Malay, proposes the Chinese as belonging to the ‘peoplehood’ of West Kalimantan.

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Comparing Well-Being Across Nations: Conceptual And Empirical Issues, William Tov, Evelyn Wing-Mun Au Jan 2013

Comparing Well-Being Across Nations: Conceptual And Empirical Issues, William Tov, Evelyn Wing-Mun Au

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this chapter, we review cross-national survey studies of subjective well-being. We begin with a short history of the concept of subjective well-being and examine how it has been measured in national surveys. We then review some findings on well-being at the level of societies and individuals. The former concerns how the economic and social conditions of countries are related to their average level of happiness and life satisfaction. The latter considers how the characteristics of happy and unhappy individuals may differ across cultures. Next we discuss important issues in research design and analysis of cross-national data, and in the …

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Comparing Local Models Of Agrarian Transition In China, Qian Forrest Zhang Jan 2013

Comparing Local Models Of Agrarian Transition In China, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The development of markets and the penetration of capital into agriculture have started the agrarian transition in rural China, which is transforming smallholding, household-based agriculture into various forms of capitalistic production. This again raises in a new historical and social context the long-debated question in the agrarian transition literature: Can family farms survive the onslaught of capitalist agriculture based on wage labor and what shapes the confrontation between family farms and agro-capital? I argue that it is the local political economy—rather than some natural obstacles in agriculture to the penetration of capitalism—that shapes this confrontation and gives rise to a …

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Deactivation By Unpriming: Does Decrease Of Influence Mean Lowering Of Activation Level?, Lay See Ong, Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong, Jolene H. Tan Jan 2013

Deactivation By Unpriming: Does Decrease Of Influence Mean Lowering Of Activation Level?, Lay See Ong, Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong, Jolene H. Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Question: Unpriming means a decrease in the influence of primed knowledge, but does it also mean a lowered activation level? Method: Measuring the effect of unpriming with Lexical Decision Task instead of random answering. Findings: The answer is NO. Reaction times were faster after individuals first acted upon the primed concept (unpriming).

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Quick And Dirty: Some Psychosocial Costs Associated With The Dark Triad In Three Countries, Peter K. Jonason, Norman P. Li, Anna Z. Czarna Jan 2013

Quick And Dirty: Some Psychosocial Costs Associated With The Dark Triad In Three Countries, Peter K. Jonason, Norman P. Li, Anna Z. Czarna

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The current study provides the first examination of the relationship between life history indicators and the Dark Triad traits in an international sample drawn from the U.S. (n = 264), Singapore (n = 185), and Poland (n = 177). In all three samples, the Dark Triad traits were associated with psychosocial costs, although there were more links in the Singaporean and Polish samples than in the American sample. In the U.S., the quality of one’s romantic relationships and psychopathy were negatively correlated. Narcissism was higher in the Polish and American samples than in the Singaporean sample. Men scored higher than …

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Secularity, Religion And The Possibilities For Religious Citizenship, Lyn Parker, Chang Yau Hoon Jan 2013

Secularity, Religion And The Possibilities For Religious Citizenship, Lyn Parker, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Scholarly predictions of the secularization of the world have proven premature. We see a heterogeneous world in which religion remains a significant and vital social and political force. This paper reflects critically upon secularization theory in order to see how scholars can productively respond to the, at least partly, religious condition of the world at the beginning of the twenty first century. We note that conventional multiculturalism theory and policy neglects religion, and argue the need for a reconceptualization of understanding of religion and secularity, particularly in a context of multicultural citizenship — such as in Australia and Indonesia. We …

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The Impact Of Smartphone Adoption On Consumers’ Switching Behavior In Broadband And Cable Tv Services, Gwangjae Jung Jan 2013

The Impact Of Smartphone Adoption On Consumers’ Switching Behavior In Broadband And Cable Tv Services, Gwangjae Jung

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The emergence of smartphones has brought a technology disruption to the telecom business. Due to the various services offered in association with smartphones, people can surf the web or watch TV. This research is related to telecom services overall, and has the goal of finding the impact of smartphone adoption to consumers’ switching behavior in broadband and cable TV services. This research adopts a quasi-experimental design and investigates the causal effect of smartphone service adoption on broadband and cable TV service choices. The data collection involves five years of consumer service subscriptions in a Singaporean telecommunications company. I tested for …

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Hypergraph Index: An Index For Context-Aware Nearest Neighbor Query On Social Networks, Yazhe Wang, Baihua Zheng Jan 2013

Hypergraph Index: An Index For Context-Aware Nearest Neighbor Query On Social Networks, Yazhe Wang, Baihua Zheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Social network has been touted as the No. 2 innovation in a recent IEEE Spectrum Special Report on “Top 11 Technologies of the Decade”, and it has cemented its status as a bona fide Internet phenomenon. With more and more people starting using social networks to share ideas, activities, events, and interests with other members within the network, social networks contain a huge amount of content. However, it might not be easy to navigate social networks to find specific information. In this paper, we define a new type of queries, namely context-aware nearest neighbor (CANN) search over social network to …

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Engagingness And Responsiveness Behavior Models On The Enron Email Network And Its Application To Email Reply Order Prediction, Byung-Won On, Ee Peng Lim, Jing Jiang, Loo Nin Teow Jan 2013

Engagingness And Responsiveness Behavior Models On The Enron Email Network And Its Application To Email Reply Order Prediction, Byung-Won On, Ee Peng Lim, Jing Jiang, Loo Nin Teow

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In email networks, user behaviors affect the way emails are sent and replied. While knowing these user behaviors can help to create more intelligent email services, there has not been much research into mining these behaviors. In this paper, we investigate user engagingness and responsiveness as two interaction behaviors that give us useful insights into how users email one another. Engaging users are those who can effectively solicit responses from other users. Responsive users are those who are willing to respond to other users. By modeling such behaviors, we are able to mine them and to identify engaging or responsive …

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Do Household Cable Tv Viewing Patterns Demonstrate Efficiency And Concentration?, Rae Chang, Pulak Ghosh, Gwangjae Jung, Robert J. Kauffman, Peiran Zhang Jan 2013

Do Household Cable Tv Viewing Patterns Demonstrate Efficiency And Concentration?, Rae Chang, Pulak Ghosh, Gwangjae Jung, Robert J. Kauffman, Peiran Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

No abstract provided.

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Coder Reliability And Misclassification In The Human Coding Of Party Manifestos, Slava Mikhaylov, Michael Laver, Kenneth Benoit Dec 2012

Coder Reliability And Misclassification In The Human Coding Of Party Manifestos, Slava Mikhaylov, Michael Laver, Kenneth Benoit

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP) provides the only time series of estimated party policy positions in political science and has been extensively used in a wide variety of applications. Recent work (e.g., Benoit, Laver, and Mikhaylov 2009; Klingemann et al. 2006) focuses on nonsystematic sources of error in these estimates that arise from the text generation process. Our concern here, by contrast, is with error that arises during the text coding process since nearly all manifestos are coded only once by a single coder. First, we discuss reliability and misclassification in the context of hand-coded content analysis methods. Second, we …

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